Aven the Raven
HMCS Yellowknife's mascot wins a name

Daniel MacIsaac
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jun 23/99) - Like all good Yellowknifers, 12-year-old Tara Bromley thinks ravens are cool.

Sure, the big black beasts are pesky, intrusive, disturbing and sometimes dangerous (think about those stories of a massive raven swooping down to carry off Poopsie the poodle).

But obviously Northerners also find many admirable qualities in this tough-as-nails nuisance.

"I think they're pretty -- because they're all black, they're intelligent and they look cool," confirmed Tara.

The Grade 6 William McDonald student is certainly not alone in her thinking. When it came time for the city's namesake ship -- the HMCS Yellowknife -- to adopt a mascot, the Department of National Defence sent it, what else -- a stuffed raven.

And that's where Tara comes in. City Hall's Brian Kelln said the 12-year-old was one of 25 local students who entered a name-the-raven contest this spring and ended up the winner -- beak and feathers above the rest with her entry Aven the Raven.

"I thought of the territorial flower and then of Mount Aven -- and then just shortened it to Aven," said Tara, explaining her choice.

The Bromley family was on hand outside City Hall on Sunday to watch as Tara got to meet Aven's owners -- Lt.-Cmdr. Grant Bannister and the crew of the Yellowknife and to receive her prizes, which included a plaque and a ship's hat and T-shirt.

Louise Tomchewics receive honourable mention for her entry Ekati and Adam Hasson took away a picture of the Yellowknife for coming up with the name Arctic Knight.

But it was Aven that ruled the roost, and Commander Bannister seemed pleased with the result.

"We got the schools involved last year when coming up with the name of the ship and we wanted to continue that relationship," Bannister said.

He said a lot of ships have mascots -- the most famous being Percy the Penguin on the HMCS Terra Nova.

"It's a stuffed penguin that they travel all over with," he said. "There are some infantry units that have live animals as mascots like bears or goats -- and there's an airforce regiment with a lion cub -- but the navy mainly goes for stuffed mascots."

As for Aven the Raven -- actually it's a taxidermist-stuffed raven perched on a set of caribou antlers -- Bannister said the bird has already attracted its share of attention.

He said they display Aven on special occasions, like last week's Portland Rose Festival down in Oregon.

"Everybody's curious but most people think it's a crow -- but we correct them right away," he said, "Endurance, strength and smarts -- it's our link to Yellowknife."